Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-09-21
''HoW TO TREAT COMPANY" !"
THE TRIALS AND REWARDS OF
CHRISTIAN HOSPITALITY.

CHRISTIAN HOSPITALITY.
EXCELLENT PEOPLE WHO HAVE
PROTUBERANCEs OF DIS
POSITION.
A BRANDT PUNCH LARGE
ENOUGH FOR 4 BOAT go
TO SWIM IN.
NOBODY EXPECTED, HOWEVER, To
INITIATE THIS.
THE TWO PIECES OF LEAD.
DIR. TALMAGFs SERMON, SEPT. nth
THE HAMPToNs, September 1.-THE
Rev. DR.. T. De Witt Talmage's text to-
day was from Romans, Oh. xii. v. 13
'sGiven to hospitality ~ and his discourse
as follows =
There is danger that the multiplication
of large and commodious hotels in our
towns, and cities, and villages, will utterly
exterminate that grace which Abraham ex.
hibited when he entertained the angels.
and which Lot showed when he watched
for guests at the gate of the city, and which
Christ recognized as positive requisite for
entering heaven when he declared :: "I was
stranger and ye took Me in"
propose to speak this morning Of the
trials and rewards of Christian hospitality.
The first trial often comes in the whim and
eccentricity of the guest himself. There
are great many excellent people who have
protuberances of disposition, and sharp
edges of temperament, and unpliability of
character, which make them "a positive
nuisance in any house where they stay
On short acquaintance they will begin to
command the household affairs, order the
employees to unusual service, keep unsea-
sonable hours, use narcotics in places Of
fensive to sensitive nostrils, put their feet
at unusual elevations, drop the ashes of
their Havana on costly tapestry, open bu.
reaus they ought never to touch, and pry
into things they ought never to see, and
become impervious to rousing bells, and
have all the peculiarities of the gormandizer
or the dyspeptic, and make excavations
from poor dentistry with unusual imple-
ments, and in thousand ways af1ict the
household which proposes to take care of
them. Added to all, they stay too long,
They have no idea when their welcome is
worn out and they would be unmoved even
by the blessing which my friend Gerritt
Smith, the philanthropist, asked one morn
ing at his breakfast table, on the day when
III hoped that the long-protracted guests
would depart, saying, 80 Lord, bless this
day p But, my friends, there are allevia-
tions to be put on their side of the scale
Perhaps they have not had the same refn-
ing influences about them in early life that
you have had. Perhaps they have inherit
ed eccentricities that they cannot help
Perhaps it is your duty, by example, to
show them better way. Perhaps they
are sent to be trial for the development
of your patience. Perhaps they we're to be
intended as an illustration of the opposite
Of what you are trying to inculcate in the
minds of your children. Perhaps it is to
make your home the brighter when they
are gone. When our guests are CHEEKY,
and fascinating, and elegant, it is very easy
to entertain them but when we find in
our guests that which is antagonistic to our
taste and sentiment, it is positive triumph
when we can obey the words of my text
and be lven to hospitality"
Another trial in the using of this grace is
in the toll and expense of exercising it. In
the well-regulated household things 60
smoothly, but now you have introduced a
foreign element into the machinery, and
though you may stoutly declare that they
must take things as they find them, the
Martha will break in. The ung0vernable
stove. The ruined dessert. The joint that
proves to be unmasticable. The delayed
marketing. The perplexities of caterer.
The difficulty of doing proper work, and
yet always being presentable. Though you
%hor chof. no M atu
there will be care and there will be anx-
iety. In 1894 the captain-general pro-.
vided a very grand entertainment; and
among other things, he had a fountain in
his garden-a fountain Of strong drink. In
it were four hogsheads of brandy, eight
hogsheads Of water, twenty-five thousand
lemons, thirteen hundred-weight of Lisbon
sugar, five pounds of grated nutmeg, three
hundred toasted biscuits, and boat built
on purpose was placed in the fountain, and
a boy rowed around it and filled the cups
of the people who came there to be sup
piled. Well, you say, that was luxurious
entertainment, and of course the man had
no anxiety but I have to tell you that
though you had, or propose, an entertain
ment like that, you have anxiety. In that
very thing comes the Divine reward. We
were born to serve and when we serve
others We serve God. The flush on that
woman's cheek. as she bends over the hot
stove, is as sacred in Gods sight as the
flush on the cheek of one who, on hot
day, breaches the Gospel. We may serve
God with plate, and cutlery, and broom, as
certainly as we can serve Him with psalm
book and liturgy. Margaret, Queen Of
Norway and Sweden and Denmark, had a
royal cup of ten lips, on which was recorded
oc q IL, h1I ,,,,1r
from this cup. And every Christian woman
has q royal cup on which are written all
the names of those who have ever been en-
tertained by her in Christian style-names
not cut by human ingenuity, but written
by the hand of Divine Jesus. But, my
friends, you are not to toll unnecessarily.
Though the fare be plain, cheerful presi-
dency of the table, and cleanliness of ap-
pointments will be good enough for any
body that ever comes to your house. John
Howard was invited to the house of a
nobleman. He said ~ will come on one
| condition, and that is that you have moth
| ing but potatoes on the table," The requi-
sition was complied with. Cyrus, King Of
Persia, under the same circumstances, pre-
scribed that on the table there must be
nothing but bread. Of course, these were
extremes, but they are illustrations of the
fact that more depends upon the banquet
ters than upon the banquet. want to lift
this idea Of Christian entertainment out of
a positive bondage into glorious induce
ment. Every effort you put. forth, and
every dollar you give to the entertainment
of friend or foe, you give directly to Christ.
Suppose it were announced that the Lord
Jesus Christ would come to this place this
week, what woman in this house would not
be glad to wash for Him, or spread for
Him bed, or bake for Him ? There was
one of old who washed for Him, drawing
the water from the well of her own tears
He is coming. He will be here tomorrow.
''In as much as ye have done it to one of
the least of these, my brethren, ye have
done it to Me.' In picture galleries we
ths*s-often seen representations of Walter
Scott and his friends, or Washington Irving
with his associates !; but all those engrav-
| in0u will foda ont while thrOuUh avarlaat